


A Brave New World

by amnevitah



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Character Death, Depression, F/M, Gen, War, Women Being Awesome, the hidden villages are gone, the world has regressed back to a feudal society
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-02-05 05:29:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1807012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amnevitah/pseuds/amnevitah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Konoha fell 15 years ago, the shinobi clans are scattered, fighting amongst one another, and the elemental countries have regressed back to their feudal states. Naruto has grown ignorant of the world, hidden away by his family. Sasuke lives amongst his ruthless, squabbling clan. Sakura grows up a foreigner, knowing only of shinobi from her books.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Place Called Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a daemon AU fic. I’d rather not overload this Author’s Note with a long explanation of daemons and how they work so if you aren’t familiar with them and are curious I’m sure Google will tell you all you need to know. Bear in mind that this isn’t just transplanting daemons into the Naruto universe but this is also an AU in its own right. History took a different turn before Naruto was born and thus the world you’re familiar with will be very different from the norm, daemons aside. I’ve been working on and dreaming up this fic for several years so I thought it high time I give the thing a go. I hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> Edit: If you’re re-reading this and wondering why this doesn’t look at all like what was there before, I actually rewrote Chapter 1 to better fit the coming plot. I think this fits the story much better than the previous version. Don’t worry, you’ll see what I mean...

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” - _Aristotle_

* * *

 Once, when he was eight, Naruto had found a map of the world.

There were a multitude of derelict, empty buildings strewn throughout Uzu Isle, so of course Naruto and Efrosyni had spent much of their childhood exploring every last one. There were treasures and secrets to be found in those places and they gathered them up greedily like the magpies that loitered around their home. There had been other people here once who had lived in these places and walked these streets, but for one reason or another they had gone and Naruto could only guess at the kinds of people who had come before by their now crumbling infrastructure and abandoned possessions.

And thus, in his wanderings, Naruto came across a door he could not open. This didn’t stop the boy however, such things rarely did. Though he may have inherited his father looks, it was his mother’s stubbornness which defined him. So the next day, he and his daemon arrived once more, though this time they had come prepared with a heavy, bent piece of iron he had filched from one of the buildings across the street. After a few minutes, Naruto and Efrosyni broke the lock and were rewarded with a loud creak as the door swung open.

The mysterious room turned out to be much smaller (and far more unremarkable) than they had guessed, barely more of an oversized closet really. A very cramped oversized closet. There was a desk, a few chairs, and several large metal filing cabinets all squeezed inside with barely any space in between them all to move freely, even by someone as small and skinny as Naruto. He almost would’ve just left the room behind then in search of someplace more interesting if it hadn’t been for Efrosyni jumping onto the desktop. With a sigh, he squeezed inside and looked down at the paperwork strewn across the desk.

Both boy and daemon had learned to read several years before, but much of the things spoken of on those papers were dry and uninteresting and Naruto huffed petulantly as Efrosyni, a crow now, scanned the pages of a notebook curiously.

“This is boring,” Naruto announced. “There’s nothing here.”

His daemon gave him an annoyed look and clicked her beak. “There’s _plenty_ here.”

He was just about to say ‘not really’ but stopped when he caught sight of the large map behind her. It was old, yellowed and curling at the edges, but it was the biggest map he’d ever seen. Naruto maneuvered himself around the desk and stepped up on the chair to get a better look. It wasn’t just a map of Uzu Isle or the rest of the _Land of Water_ as he’d found on the walls of old school buildings or government offices, but a map of, from what he could only assume, the _entire_ world. Certainly more of the world than _he_ had ever known there was. Delicately, Naruto traced the lines between a place called the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning.

“That can’t be right,” Efrosyni had fluttered onto his shoulder for a better look. “Uncle Kakashi and Grandpa Jiraiya talk about the Land of Lightning, but they’ve _never_ said there was a Land of _Fire_.”

Naruto frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yep. They only ever talk about the Land of Lightning and the Land of _Earth_ , not Fire.”

“Just those _two_? Because there’s a Land of Wind on here too, and a whole bunch of other countries it looks like…” He traced over the Land of Rivers and then back over the Land of Fire. Right in the middle there was a big black dot with the name Konoha next to it. His finger stopped, hovering over the name. Boy and daemon went silent.

And then, “Dad talks about Konoha…with Grandpa Jiraiya.”

Naruto stared at the black dot and wondered.

* * *

He waited until his mother had gone to bed before he posed his question to his father. They sat on the porch, side by side, waiting for the heat to die down and the stars to come out. His father’s daemon, a slim spotted cat larger than a hound, lounged in the grass at Minato’s feet, soaking up the last rays of sunshine.

“What’s Konoha?”

Naruto wasn’t sure how he had expected his father to react but it certainly wasn’t the deep sigh the man let out in response. It was a long sigh. A heavy sigh. As if he had been waiting for such a question for a _very_ long time. He ran his fingers through his daemon’s short fur and the creature blinked up at him with large yellow eyes. For a while neither spoke and there was only the drone of cicadas and the crash of the waves at the bottom of the hill.

Finally, “I think I would’ve preferred if you’d asked me how babies are made.”

Naruto made a face.

“I _know_ how babies are made!” It was hard _not_ to know living amongst the various wildlife on the island.

Minato laughed, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Yes. I suppose you _do_ , don’t you?”

Naruto waited. He didn’t dare ask the question again for fear of his father brushing him off or changing the subject completely. Minato sighed again, long and drawn out and sad. He didn’t look at his son.

“I was born there. It’s where your Grandpa Jiraiya and your Uncle Kakashi were born too. It was our home.” His father began. He sounded a thousand years old. Tired and worn and crumbling at the edges like the map he had discovered in that office. “It was a village. A very big village where all of my precious people lived. And then, the war came and the village was destroyed. After that your mother and I found this place and we had you and Izumi.”

Naruto was quiet, his mind processing. Suddenly, a horrible thought entered his mind. “Those…the people who you had a war with. Were they…were they the ones who…who did _that_ …to mom?” His voice grew quieter as he said each word until the last few came out as barely more than a whisper.

His mother was not like he and his father. He had Efrosyni and his little sister had troublesome little Melqart and his father had Austeja. But his mother…

She was alone.

Minato stirred, the very mention of his wife drawing him out of his melancholy and straightening his spine.

“No. That was…someone else.”

“Who? Why? Why would someone do that?” The words tumbled out of mouth before he could stop them. Efrosyni sat in his lap, her ears perked. His father had never elaborated upon his mother’s _condition_ before, only saying that a monster had eaten Illtyd.

His father finally glanced down at his son then. His face was hard and unflinching. His voice was like steel. “Someday Naruto, I will tell you. But not tonight.” He turned away. “Now go to bed.”

Naruto and Efrosyni fled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Kushina. She’s had a rough life. 
> 
> Naruto (8) - Efrosyni (unsettled)  
> Minato (34) - Austeja (cheetah)  
> Kushina (32) - Illtyd (none/snub-nosed monkey)  
> Izumi (3) - Melqart (unsettled)


	2. The Caged Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’re re-reading this and wondering why this doesn’t look at all like what was there before, I actually rewrote Chapter 2 to better fit the coming plot. I think this fits the story much better than the previous version. Don’t worry, you’ll see what I mean...

“Going to prison is like dying with your eyes open.” - _Bernard Kerik_

* * *

 He knew long before they reached Hadar that he was going to hate this place. Everything was too _green_ . Too _bright_ . Everywhere he looked the green jungle draped over or invaded everything it touched. _Like a fungus_ , Sasuke thought uncharitably. If he squinted hard enough he could just make out the tropical landscape creeping over the city walls. Unfortunately, it was even worse once they entered the city limits. Once he and his sisters crossed through the gates, Sasuke was met with an onslaught of foreign smell from the spice market.

Ksenija wrinkled her nose distastefully and quickly became an insect so as to lose her sense of smell altogether.

Oblivious to their brother’s foul mood, Sasuke’s sisters marveled over the sights and sounds of their new home, which was a far cry from the quiet, well-ordered Uchiha fortress they had left. Then again, Sasuke thought darkly, they were too young to understand why they had been brought here in the first place.

After all, it was difficult to love your new cage, no matter how novel or gilded it might be.

The city passed in a blur of color as he and the twins were marched forward through the streets, ignoring the pushy calls of the vendors and the curious glances of the garishly dressed locals, right into the heart of the city where they came to a halt at two imposing iron doors set deep into an even more imposing stone wall. Their minders, three fierce Uchiha with vigilant raptors for daemons, grunted some foreign words to the guards at the doors. One of them grunted something back and thrust out his hand expectantly, his golden wildcat daemon prowling forward with interest. Curious, Mitsuko and Misaki’s daemons attempted to imitate the guard’s daemon with varying degrees of success.

“Stop that.” Sasuke warned with a frown, glancing up at the disapproving faces of their minders. In a flash, Ksenija took the shape of a tiger, the same shape as their father’s daemon, Nadezhda, and cowed the two smaller cats back into place. The girls pouted, but said nothing.

Ignoring his charges, Shuichi Uchiha reached into the holster at his waist and drew out a crumpled set of papers and a glittering golden token under the piercing gaze of the massive eagle at his shoulder. Silently, he passed them into the outstretched hand of the waiting guard and shifted his weight to better accommodate the hulking mass of his daemon.

Several moments passed as the guard flipped through the papers leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world. Though none of their guardians had moved an inch Sasuke could see their irritation with the man plainly in the shuffling, clenching talons and clicking beaks of their daemons. Finally, he rasped a few strange words to the other men and then shouted upwards. Sounds of activity began at the top of the wall and on the other side of the door and then, with a great deal of loud grinding and squealing, the door swung open.

Sasuke felt a hand plant itself between his shoulder blades and firmly push him forward. He had to stop himself from stumbling. He twisted his neck around to glare at Tetsuo. Ksenija let out an irritable growl. The man and his kite daemon stared back unflinchingly. He gave Sasuke another firm push.

“Go.”

Sasuke stared back up at the cold gray double doors, opened wide like the maw of some great beast. He looked back down at his sisters on either side of him, as awed as he was, though for very different reasons. Carefully, tenderly, he took hold of each of their hands and they walked into their prison

He tried hard not to flinch as he heard the doors bang shut behind him as the beast swallowed them whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worried yet? You should be. 
> 
> Sasuke (12) - Ksenija (unsettled)  
> Mitsuko (4) - Hashim (unsettled)  
> Misaki (4) - Khayrat (unsettled)  
> Fugaku (45) - Nadezhda (tiger)  
> Shuichi (32) - Basira (harpy eagle)  
> Tetsuo (24) - Azra (mississippi kite)


	3. Scheherazade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so unbetaed man. Forgive me. 
> 
> The title of this chapter comes from the song Scheherazade Op. 35: The Story of the Kalender Prince (opening) by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as the legendary character from One Thousand and One Nights.

**A Brave New World**

"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time." - _Rabindranath Tagore_

**03\. Scheherazade**

Najmahrian summers were as hot as they were humid and Sakura was right in the thick of it living in the capital. She didn't mind so much, though her father was another matter entirely. Kenji hadn't grown up in Hadar as his daughter had and so was still quite unused to the country's sticky climate. Usually Sakura's father just hid himself away in their musty bookshop until winter came around again. 

Sakura loved Hadar. 

The Najmahrian capital city lay in the heart of the island kingdom, surrounded by wet jungle and towering mountains. At night, when her father closed up his shop, Sakura would wander with Nicodemus through the old winding streets of the city, streets so old she could see wagon-tracks borne into the cobblestones. Ancient temples lined the paths alongside apartment buildings and lush gardens, a queer mishmash of old and new. Sometimes Sakura would visit the market, just down the street from her house, just to catch the smells of spices and the hear the mixed chattering of Najmahrian and the Common Tongue and smatterings of completely new languages all together. 

Mostly though, she stayed in her father's shop and read. 

All she knew of the world came from her books. And Sakura wanted to know _everything_. From dusty tomes on Najmahrian history to crisp new medical texts to fantastic tales from distant lands, Sakura and Nicodemus consumed them all with the voraciousness of the starved. Over the years Kenji only continued to feed his daughter's vast appetite for knowledge, despite the fact that it was odd for a girl-child to be so learned in Najmah, let alone know how to read _at all_. 

Sakura may have worn the customary headscarf as all Najmahrian women did and spoke their language as fluently as one who had been born there, but she was _not_ a Najmahrian. Her pale skin and pink hair were evidence enough of that fact. But Sakura cared little for what other's thought she _should_ be. She had no mother to emulate, only the mournful rememberings from her sorrowful father. 'Saki' and 'Konoha' was nothing but words to her. Still, she often wondered what her life would've been like if she's grown amongst her father's people. Amongst _shinobi_ , those almost mythical warriors from her books, capable of near impossible fetes. 

There were no shinobi in Najmah though. Their's was a kingdom built on wealth and trade, far from the squabbling mainland. The King of Najmah had no need of shinobi. He had an army of course, but it saw little use, his country instead preferring to settle its disputes peacefully (along with the promise of gold and trade sanctions of course). And so Sakura settled for reading about her father's mysterious people from her books. 

But then, one day, Sakura met one. 

* * *

Sakura had never been a particularly religious girl. Her books and her father's distinctly atheistic leanings left her suspicious of most religious ideologies. Still, she and her daemon loved Hadar's grand temples and colorful holidays. And so it was on one such holiday, a day devoted to the worship of the local trickster god which encouraged rowdy behavior and copious amounts of alcohol, that Sakura found herself climbing the steps to one of the local temples. Unlike its more important cousins, this temple stood on a high hill at the edge of the city, hidden from sight by the green foliage of the jungle. It was a quiet and peaceful place and therefore Sakura's favorite. 

Nicodemus flew ahead of her as a white starling and she struggled to keep up even as her skirts tangled with her feet. She was _so_ caught up with keeping her skirts free of her legs in fact, that she almost didn't notice Nicodemus's chirped warning.

Almost. 

A man stood several stairs up from her. He was tall and dark-haired and his strange clothing staunchly marked him as a foreigner. His panther daemon stood close to his side, eyeing Sakura with fierce yellow eyes. 

"I am sorry," the stranger said in thickly accented Najmahrian. "I assumed everyone was down in the streets for the festival."

"They _are_ ," Sakura replied, Najmahrian flowing from her lips far more gracefully. Nicodemus changed into a spider monkey and swung onto her shoulder. 

"But you are not?" the man assessed her with his dark eyes, a curious tilt to his head. 

"No," Sakura shook her head. And then, before she could stop herself, she blurted, "You're _not_ a Najmahrian."

The man face didn't alter and yet for some reason Sakura though he looked amused. "Neither are you."

Sakura scoffed. "Of _course_ I am!" Nicodemus's fur fluffed in an irritated fashion. 

"As you say," the man nodded.

"Well your Najmahrian is terrible!" Sakura snapped childishly. 

The man laughed. "Yes, I imagine it is," he replied in the Common Tongue. Sakura suddenly felt very chastened though she couldn't say why.

"I'm sorry," she said, switching to her father's native tongue. 

"Ah," the man smiled, impressed. "And here I thought you were a Najmahrian? And yet you speak the Common Tongue?"

"My father taught me," Sakura replied in way of explanation. 

"And who is he?"

"Kenji Haruno, of Konoha!" Sakura boasted happily. 

The man's eyes flashed with interest and his daemon took a step forward…but then her ears twitched and she swung her head around to stare off into the jungle. The man glanced off in the same direction and than turned back to Sakura. 

"Well it was pleasure meeting you, daughter of Kenji Haruno," he said quickly before he slipped past her gracefully, moving down the steep steps hurriedly. His daemon followed like a wraith-like shadow and Sakura and Nicodemus watched them both go until they disappeared behind the foliage. 

"What a strange man," Sakura declared, resuming her climb up the temple steps. 

"And dangerous," agreed Nicodemus, clinging to her headscarf. "Did you see his daemon?"

"Of _course_ I saw his daemon!" She glanced behind her again, as if the black panther daemon were still standing just behind her. 

"Only warriors have great cats as daemons," Nicodemus reminded her, strangely quiet. He was right of course. Only savage, powerful people's daemons settled as big cats or wolves or raptors and the like. Her father, ever a peaceful, learned man had a plain, ordinary duck for a daemon. She was told her mother's had been a dove, before she'd been killed. Sakura wondered what a man with such a ferocious daemon was doing in such a peaceful city. 

Later, when she had reached the top of the hill and stood before the temple, Sakura realized that she'd never learned the strange man's name. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I quite caught Itachi's personality as well as I would've liked in this chapter. My excuse is that this is an AU and so he's turned out differently than if he'd murdered his family and joined a criminal organization. Now what is he doing in Sakura's hometown? There is an answer to that but it shall be discussed in greater detail elsewhere. Anyway, if you've got any thoughts, concerns, or just plain want to tell me how much you hate this story (though please give me real reasons and not just 'I hate you, you suck'), please let me know!
> 
> Character's ages and daemons:
> 
> Kenji (38) - Arihel (duck)  
> Saki (deceased) - Symeon (dove)  
> Sakura (12) - Nicodemus (unsettled)


	4. When Can I See You Again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three updates on the same day? It must be Christmas!  
> Chapter title comes from the song When Can I See You Again? by Owl City.

**A Brave New World**

"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." - _Benjamin Franklin_

**04\. When Can I See You Again?**

Kakashi was thumbing through his novel when Aseneth finally appeared at his feet. He closed the book with an audible 'snap' before pocketing it and turned to his daemon expectantly. 

"Well?" 

"It's them. They're waiting at the bar down the road." his daemon explained in her usual quiet smokey voice. Kakashi nodded and made a show of straightening his shirt before joining the crowd on the street, Aseneth following on silent paws. 

It was only just past sundown and the streets of Buru were already unusually crowded. Most of the storefronts had begun to close down but the warm fluorescent light coming from the bars and restaurants beckoned to street-goers invitingly. Kakashi slipped through the throngs of people easily, ducking into a bar whose sign was missing several letters. Its patrons boasted mainly burnt out businessmen and the occasional 'lady of the night' but Kakashi easily spotted the people he'd come here to see. It was an easy enough thing for a shinobi to disguise themselves with a henge, but it was infinitely more difficult to cloak their _daemons_. To Kakashi, the elegant swan and gazelle next to the two average-looking businessmen at the booth at the back of the room were practically a neon sign.

"Oh you shouldn't have," Kakashi said merrily as he snagged ahold of one of the drinks on the table as he slipped into the booth. One of the men growled. 

"Fuck you I paid nine ryo for that!" the swan daemon's feathers ruffled. Jiraiya then. 

"Even better," Kakashi replied with a nod as he downed the glass completely. 

"We didn't call you here so you could drink all our alcohol," the other man, Shikaku, said tiredly. He looked every bit the exhausted businessman come to escape his pestering wife and demanding job.

"Didn't you?" the Copy-nin asked. "Come on, a bar? Really? Couldn't we have taken our shady dealings to a nice quiet tea house? We would look so much less suspicious there"

"Well we _are_ criminals."

"Depends on who you ask."

"I think most of our fellow patrons would gladly sell us out for a few extra drinks," Jiraiya pointed out bitterly as he shamelessly stole Shikaku's drink from across the table. 

"So, what news brings us to this godforsaken side of the country?" Kakashi asked. He almost was afraid to ask. News was never good these days. 

Shikaku frowned. "Well there's the usual updates on Iwa and Kumo still fighting over Fire Country like a couple of squabbling children."

"What's left of it anyway," Jiraiya added darkly. And he was right, Fire Country as a whole hadn't existed since Konoha's fall twelve years prior. After Iwa and Kumo had taken the country by force, they'd turned on each other and now fought over the small sliver of territory in the middle, where Konoha now stood in ruins. 

"There are also reports of Rain Country increasing their territory," Shikaku continued on. "They've even taken land from Earth Country."

"And what do we _know_ of Rain Country?" Kakashi pressed. 

"Virtually nothing," answered Jiraiya. "Their borders are locked tight and anyone who _does_ manage to venture in _never_ comes out."

"Who runs the place?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you," Jiraiya shrugged, throwing up his hands. "If I had even half the budget and contacts I once did maybe this would be an entirely different story."

"But that's not even the best news," Shikaku interjected. Kakashi frowned unhappily. This couldn't be good. "Several of the Hyūga have been kidnapped by Kumo."

Kakashi groaned. 

"On the bright side, Minato's kid just turned seven." Jiraiya said with somewhat more cheer. "She's adorable, really."

"How are they?" Kakashi asked. 

"As well as can be expected. Still safe. Kushina's…coping."

The three men fell silent. Kakashi cast an involuntary glance down as his daemon. Aseneth stared back up at him with unblinking golden eyes. He couldn't imagine ever being separated from her. The mere thought sent chills up his spine. Spooked now, the shinobi finished exchanging what scraps of information they could before Kakashi decided to escape first and leave them with the bill. He could still hear their loud protests halfway down the street.  

Thankfully, despite everything, some things still hadn't changed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New characters show up and we're finally getting some new info. Weeeeeeeeeeee!!  
> Character's ages and daemons:  
> Kakashi (26) - Aseneth (bobcat)  
> Jiraiya (50) - Sehrazat (swan)  
> Shikaku (38) - Ayodele (gazelle)


	5. Gimme Shelter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Inuzuka Family goes South.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Long time no post! And just because you've been so patient and so ridiculously generous with your wonderfully intelligent comments and reviews, here's a new chapter. And from the Inuzuka family this time! Sorry it's such a short and disjointed chapter. I worked on it sporadically through the week and I have a feeling it shows. 
> 
> Chapter title comes from the song Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones.

**A Brave New World**

"We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment." - _Hilaire Belloc_

**05\. Gimme Shelter**

His mother was fierce. His sister was funny. And Kiba…Kiba was wild. 

He had grown up without a 'proper' home. Without rules. Without structure. They were always moving, he and his family. Never staying in one place. _To keep ahead of the monsters_ , his mother would tell him. 

It had never occurred to him that those monsters might be other people. 

He knew of shinobi of course. His mother was one. Or…she had been. Kiba had actually always been a bit unclear on that. But she could do things other people couldn't! Amazing things! She could make herself invisible! And smell disease! And she could walk up walls! And all of these things she had taught to her children. 

_The better to survive with_ , she would say. 

And Kiba was very good at surviving. 

* * *

Hana was beginning to feel more beast than human. She and her mother and brother would probably have no trouble fitting into one of the many tribes they'd encountered in the last several weeks. 

She heaved an exhausted sigh and she glanced over at Baadur. He returned her look with his characteristic toothy grin. Surrounded by her family's unruly pack and led by dour Jáchym, Baadur stuck out like a laughing man at a funeral. 

"Are we there yet?" he said cheekily. Hana rolled her eyes. 

"You're worse than Kiba."

"Who's worse than me?" The subject in question came trotting up, Aybek close at his heels. She was a grey wolf today, like Jáchym, and little surprise. Kiba and his daemon idolized their mother. Hana wouldn't be surprised if Aybek actually settled as a wolf out of sheer will power. 

"No one is worse than you," Hana teased. 

"Hey!"

And so their day went. 

And the next day.

And the day after. 

And the day after that. 

Hana began to lose count. How long had it been since they'd last left civilization? A month? Two? She'd lost track. The days had begun to blur together now. The landscape changed little. Every day they trudged across grassy wasteland under the beating sun and their nights were spent huddled together with only the stars for company.

And the stars! Even they were different here! And so many of them! She imagined the lack of artificial light and smog had something to do with it. The air was fresher here too. Cleaner. Less…heavy. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad living here. 

Perhaps they would finally have a real home. 

* * *

Jáchym was restless. 

Tsume's eyes flicked to her daemon briefly before settling back upon the forms of her children. Hana and Kiba lay curled upon one another amongst the dogs. Jáchym paced around the trunk of a sparse tree. The only tree for miles. 

"Stop that."

Her daemon leveled bright yellow eyes upon her. "We cannot stay."

"I know." She glanced back at her children. 

This was uncharted territory for her. She'd seen rough maps of the lands bordering the Elemental Countries, but they were vague things whose detail waned the further one got from the borders. And now she and her family were far beyond the scope of those nebulous drawings. What little she knew of this place and those beyond was uncertain at best. There were stories of course, those she had learned as a child in Fire Country, and then those she'd picked up from various locales on her way south. Stories of places with strange creatures and even stranger people. Places where no shinobi had ever set foot. 

_That's what I'm counting on._ Tsume thought, her nostrils flaring. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tsume and her kids are currently in The Tribal Lands of the Libanga (see the map posted on my profile), far to the south of Earth Country and Buru (the setting of our last chapter). 
> 
> Character's ages and daemons:
> 
> Tsume (36) - Jáchym (timber wolf)  
> Hana (18) - Baadur (hyena)  
> Kiba (12) - Aybek (unsettled)


End file.
